(PartiallyPolitics.com) – On Monday, the Biden administration announced a close to $1 billion round of funding that would be used to replace school buses with low and zero-emission vehicles. The funding is going to benefit 67 recipients, across 439 to 652 school districts.
The fund is going to be used for the purchase of over 2,700 buses in seven states.
In the announcement the The Environmental Protection Agency noted that with the new additions the total number of low and zero-emission buses is going to reach 5,000.
In a statement, Vice President Kamala Harris pointed out that there were 25 million children each day who were taking school buses. As she pointed out the majority of these vehicles run on diesel which means that both the drivers and the children were being exposed to toxic air pollution. She added that as part of their efforts to address the climate crisis they were announcing an investment into the health and education of America’s children which was also going to help strengthen the U.S. economy.
On Monday, the Sierra Club praised the move in a statement with Katherine García, the Director of Clean Transportation for All, arguing that Parents wanted the safety of their children, and for their neighborhoods to have clean air. They added that switching the school buses to electric was an important move.
In 2023, over 90 percent of school buses will run on diesel, which can cause several health issues, according to a number of studies.
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